(Fredericton) A wrongly convicted New Brunswicker who spent decades trying to clear his name before being found innocent by a judge in January has died at the age of 80.
Innocence Canada, the organization that led the legal fight to exonerate Walter Gillespie and his friend Robert Mailman of their 1984 murder convictions, says Mr. Gillespie died Friday at his home in Saint John, New Brunswick.
James Lockyer, director and founder of Innocence Canada, said it was sad that Mr. Gillespie, who spent 21 years in prison, died so soon after his name was cleared.
Details about the cause of death were not immediately known.
In January, Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench of New Brunswick, Tracey DeWare, acquitted Messrs. Gillespie and Mailman, 76, of the 1983 murder of a Saint John man and apologized for the “miscarriage of justice.”
His decision came after Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani ordered a retrial on December 22, saying evidence had surfaced that called into question the “fairness of the process.”